[S]everal openly gay restaurant workers... said working for the company was difficult in light of the controversy because often times employees say homophobic things to them, thinking the comments are welcome at Chick-fil-A.

An openly gay 24-year-old employee said a man came in and say he supported Cathy's comments then 'continues to say something truly homophobic, like "I'm so glad you don't support the queers, I can eat in peace."'

Another gay employee added: '(It's) constantly having people come up to you and say, "I support your company, because your company hates the gays."'

Hmmm. It's a chicken sandwich, people. America needs to calm down.

ADDED: If you have trouble understanding my position, I spell out 6 principles here.

234 comments:

I did my small part today for freedom of expression and in opposition to tyranny of government - I had Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

There was a 45 minute wait to just get into the restaurant. It warmed my heart to know that so many others also understand that allowing corrupt and unethical politicians to throw away the Constitution at will and use the force of government in an attempt to crush legitimate differences of opinions and dissent cannot be tolerated.

It is not that I agree with Dan Cathy, as I do not, but rather the deeper principle that our right to express our thoughts and opinions without fear of reprisal from the government and politicians who disagree with those remarks are under attack, and that we will lose them if we do not stand up to such malfeasance.

"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" ~ Evelyn Beatrice Hall (not Voltaire)

I know dozens of people who went to Chick-fil-A, and nothing like this would cross their lips.

My husband went into a Chick-fil-A and joined in the singing of "God Bless America." People wanted to peaceably stand up for a man who was guilty of saying something.

Our local Chick-fil-A is the only fast food place that does dozens of fundraisers throughout the year. Right now they're trying to save the homeless shelter. The community truly does appreciate them. Our local store just gave me an envelope full of coupons for the kids in my local homeschool coop - I will give each one on their birthday, and there's an extra one for their Mom. I can always count on them to be there for us.

I don't care if you marry a porpoise, don't tell me I can't build a chicken resturant because of my personal belief. I went to chik-fil-a for breakfast and waited an hour. We went back for dinner and the lines were crazy. The traffic to get to the resturant was a quarter mile long. The human line was wrapped around the building twice. But the people were happy and laughing with each other. No one was breaking windows or crapping on cars. The staff was wonderful to everyone. And the food was good. But the general feeling was everyone was FED UP with being bullied by special interest groups, the government and politicians. Dems ignore at your own peril.

Excellent advice. A good place to start would be having political leaders who were not constantly trying to stir things up, particularly about this. it was all a big nothing until the mayors of Chicago and Boston, an alderman in Chicago and now the City Council president in NYC got into the act, trying to score cheap points off an anodyne statement by the restauranteur-in-chief.

A little adult leadership -- a little adult behavior -- would help. Anyone know any leaders who might, you know, show some leadership on this?

As noted, this wasn't so much about gay marriage as simply a sign of the quiet majority getting tired of the usual leftist government suspects trying to bullly everyone into their version of a 21st century secular, government controlled society.

No problem if people don't want to eat at these restaurants, but when you get the Dem mayors of cities telling Chik Fil A to get out, it takes things to a whole new level of chilling free speech and free exercise of religion.

The large crowds across the US today should also worry the pants off Obama. Religious conservatives have figured out how to use social media. And it will be used heavily to organize for November.

Nobody talks like that anymore even down here in the hick south. Except maybe in movies about intolerant racist hate filled southerners. But not in real life. Not any more. Even down here. The quotes from the workers are invented.

I had Chick-fil-a yesterday, no way I was braving those lines today. (lots of people did, though)

This went way beyond the debate over gay marriage when multiple government officials tried to intimidate a business by threatening to bar them from doing business in their cities because the owner dared to excercise freedom of speech and religion.

No matter what you think about gay marriage, that shit shouldnt' be tolerated.

It would be interesting to know what proportion of the Chick-Fil-A supporters are primarily there because they are offended by the statements of the big city mayors, and how many are anti-Gay. I don't think we'll ever know, because there's no objective source of such information anymore. Which is sad.

2. I'm totally against govt officials getting involved in favoring or disfavoring businesses based on the politics of the owners or the management.

3. Anyone can decide which businesses they want to patronize, and it's fine to pick businesses that stand for what you like and avoid the ones that don't.

4. It's fine to try to get other people to choose what businesses to support/avoid based on political reasons.

5. Don't assume that efforts to promote/penalize businesses will have the effect you want. You may be stimulating other people to do the opposite.

6. Chick-fil-A has gotten a lot of attention, and it will probably end up with more business. It doesn't need everyone to be a customer, and now it has a niche, and there are plenty of people who are going to want to keep rewarding them for their values or patronize them because they hate the persecution.

I wish I could have gone. Still incapacitated. But I was cheering in my house. Wife finally went but as others have stated the lines were several blocks long, so she came home and cooked. Can't complain too much about that.

I will make a belated appearence when I can. :-)

And no, the left is oo ingrained in their thought patterns to actually realize how normal Americans see them. Living in their echo chamber where any disent is crushed, thy know no better. The sad part is the ones who come here and don't know better.

When I read stuff like ""I'm so glad you don't support the queers, I can eat in peace," I think it either wasn't said at all or it was some kind of joke. For example, I could image a very pro-gay person saying that.

I have a question for the Professor, if she deigns to answer...How do you feel about smoking bans in public places? Just curious.

No one in my family smokes,son -in-law chews >:-( , wife likes them, but I am of the opiniion that if you want to have smoking in your restaurant, that's your damn bidness. If you lose market share for it, again, it's your own damn bidness.

When I say "America needs to calm down," I mean everybody. There's no reason why the big showdown about gayness needs to happen right this minute. Everyone's evolving. No one needs to be pushed around.

(But the Supreme Court should enforce the equality rights properly, and it probably will.)

Woodstock recently elected an 18 year old gay man to our Town Board. His first act... bringing a lawsuit against the local high school for failing to stop classmates from (allegedly) bullying him.

Since both my daughters attended that school, I'm pretty skeptical of the young man's claims. If it's not the most liberal school district in the country, it's close. The school district has been indoctrinating the student body in diversity, tolerance, etc. for decades... perhaps, unwittingly, teaching the students that lawsuits are a good idea.

Some gay people are assholes. Could it be that a whole lot of gay people who are assholes are attributing the fact that people dislike them to their gaydom, when in fact, people dislike them because they are assholes?

Ann Althouse said... When I read stuff like ""I'm so glad you don't support the queers, I can eat in peace," I think it either wasn't said at all or it was some kind of joke. For example, I could image a very pro-gay person saying that.

America's cities, almost all ruled by corrupt, entrenched, Democrat machine politicians, are failing (and flailing) on a massive scale, burdened with unsustainable pension obligations, teachers who don't teach and students who won't learn, blight, poverty and economic collapse. And yet what do these progressive jackboots adopt as their cause celebre? Chicken feed(ing).

Instead of trying to fix their benighted fiefdoms, they choose to make illegal, thuggish threats against one of the few businesses in America that is actually growing and hiring - so they can be "tolerant". This is just another variation on what happened in Canada where tolerance means it is illegal to quote the bible. It's just circuses and breaded chicken for their carefully assembled victim coalitions.

This was interesting to watch on Facebook. It started with, "The bigots are out in force," to "Buying from Cathy pays for hate!" to "Why don't you just shoot a gay person! Cathy pays for groups that support killing gay people!"

"I have a question for the Professor, if she deigns to answer...How do you feel about smoking bans in public places? Just curious."

I'm glad they put the smoking bans in the public places. It's an appropriate health measure. But I've never been a smoker. I don't know how bad it is for the smokers, and I feel sorry for them. But the majority won. We want to eat, work, and travel in a non polluted environment. We weren't out to oppress anyone.

Today is piano lesson day, and we had a hard time getting into In-n-Out for our customary burger because it is right next door to Chik-fil-A. It would have been nice to get chicken, but there were about 50 cars in the drive-through line, and at least 50 people waiting outside. In Gilbert, AZ, which is south of Phoenix where the temperature was well over 100 and there wasn't much shade.

Nice to see some many people standing up for free speech, and even nicer to think about how they're all going to vote in November. (h/t Instapundit)

I am very anti the pushing around. Some people were pushy about boycotting JC Penney over hiring Ellen. That made me want to shop there. Now a different set of busybodies is pushy about not eating Chick-fil-A. That makes me want to eat there.

I just can't get over the arrogance of some public officials thinking they have the right to decide what brands the citizen in their city should be allowed to have there. That's just crazy. Who votes for these insane fools? We seriously need to do some house cleaning in government, and get rid of the homeowner association graduates

"When I say "America needs to calm down," I mean everybody. There's no reason why the big showdown about gayness needs to happen right this minute. Everyone's evolving. No one needs to be pushed around. "

Ann - there's always a showdown because the Left always comes up with a new "right" they want to force everyone to cough up. Don't blame people for pushing back. It should scare everyone to think that politicians can impose a litmus test for their citizenry. Worse yet, it's a litmus test for some (White Christians) and not others (Muslims, Black Christians).

There's no reason why the big showdown about gayness needs to happen right this minuteYou've missed the point. This isn't (just) about the gays, it's about embryonic fascism. Shut up or you can't do business here.

I had Chick-fil-A for the first time today. I couldn't help it; Dan Cathy's position on gay marriage has invited my judgement upon his restaurant. And my judgment is this: What a delicious chicken sandwich! And waffle fries?! STANDARD?! My goodness. And holy cow, what is this, like, fourteen different kinds of sauce? Is this place Chick-fil-A or Chic-fil-A? What a wonderful place. Dreams surely come true at Chic-fil-A. Nom nom nom nom nom nom.

And, you know, I'm gay and everything (well...I guess there isn't really anything beyond that. I'm gay and that's all, I should have said.), but even before being bowled over by Chic-fil-A's sublime sandwiches I supported Dan Cathy. Pardon my French, but I don't want to live in a country where a mild-mannered, socially and morally responsible businessman can be pressured by a rabble of cocksucking fucktard pieces of shit and their asshat douchebag candyass politician enablers in Chicago and elsewhere. So far as local communities are concerned, Chic-fil-A does more every day than any of these idiots in a lifetime. Who the fuck do these nancy-ass cocktards think they are? THEY'RE THIS CLOSE TO INVITING MY JUDGMENT AND I'M SURE AS SHIT THOSE ASSHOLES DON'T HAVE WAFFLE FRIES TO SWAY MY OPINION!

Completely agree. I would add that the Left picked this fight NOW because 1) they're President is now on the correct side of the issue, 2) they're hoping it will give them an edge over Romney and 3) they are writing out of the argument anyone who disagrees with them as a bigot.

Saying that a business owner cannot operate because of a belief is the most disgusting political act in years. It warrants a hard push back.

I don't really care whether the particular quoted customer comments are true or not, as I don't think they have any bearing on the issue. This country is made up of millions of people, of course some of the many many people who might eat at Chick-fil-A are bigots. That doesn't demonstrate anything about this issue. Any argument that relies on anonymous quotes from people without power isn't making a good point. This is extra true for internet comments. (By the way, I find it particularly amusing when people comment here and make it seem like their only experience with gay people is me, palladian, and titus.)

Regarding 6, I think Chick-fil-A is going to regret making itself the corporate mascot of anti-gay bigotry. And while many people have only engaged with this story recently, this isn't about a single interview or what Cathy thinks about the "biblical family". It's been an issue with Chick-fil-A for years.

2. I'm totally against govt officials getting involved in favoring or disfavoring businesses based on the politics of the owners or the management.

By the way, I should note how insanely frustrating it is to hear the various mayors mouthing off about not wanting Chick-fil-A in their cities. I've been personally boycotting Chick-fil-A for the last three years, in a mostly understated way, and now some idiot liberals have over-reached and turned it into a free speech issue.

5. Don't assume that efforts to promote/penalize businesses will have the effect you want. You may be stimulating other people to do the opposite.

This!

The media naturally assumed that the gay marriage activists would seize the moral high ground. They didn't. The outrage was too contrived. The man (and woman) on the street got sick of it and struck bac. And the media just can't wrap it's collective head around that.

This needs to be remembered everytime the PC crowd tries to force you to bow to their viewpoint.

Creeping fascism. Too easy to let it happen. So hard to fight because most people are compliant and want to take the easy way out.

I was proud of America today!! Standing up for our free speech rights.

The closest Chick-fil-A is over 300 miles away. (I didn't even know how to pronounce the name or had really ever heard of the company before all of this). Too far to drive for a chicken sandwich, but we will be sure to stop in and patronize when we are going through the area.

rtuffil255Christy never said he opposed gay marriage. He said he is an advocate for traditional marriage. He never once said anything anti-gay. Here is the actual text from the article."Some have opposed the company's support of the traditional family. "Well, guilty as charged," said Cathy when asked about the company's position."We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. "We operate as a family business ... our restaurants are typically led by families; some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that," Cathy emphasized. "We intend to stay the course," he said. "We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."

I was there mid-afternoon and the restaurant was full of grandmothers and their grandkids. The drive-thru was wrapped around itself but moved quickly. At least two teams were operating the drive-thru. Management called in everyone who was scheduled off today. Everyone tied up in the traffic was being exceedingly civilized. That was a joy to behold.

Would we even have rights today for gays if we didn't have a tradition of free speech?

When I say "America needs to calm down," I mean everybody. There's no reason why the big showdown about gayness needs to happen right this minute.

I think the reason is simple: dividing us into warring identity groups distracts us from the economy in this election year and also (or so the Democrats hope) motivates one of "their" groups and supporters to go to the polls to stop the Coming Theocracy.

This tactic might've been more effective if they hadn't overreached and trampled on the First Amendment. Now they have gay marriage supporters -- heck, even Andrew Sullivan -- siding with Chick Fil A against government oppression. I'm fine with gay marriage; but if there had been a Chick Fil A within a hundred miles, I would've driven there for lunch today. Rahm Emanuel, keep your damned hands off the First Amendment!

In my experience, people don't go to church or eat at fast food restaurants in order to sharpen their hatred of gays....Maybe Popeye's, in order to differentiate the brand can come out in favor of gay marriage. People in favor of gay marriage can eat at Popeye's and those opposed can go to Chick A Fil. KFC can maintain a lofty, above the fray stance and appeal to the independents.

"The Huffington Post interviewed several openly gay restaurant workers who said working for the company was difficult in light of the controversy because often times employees say homophobic things to them, thinking the comments are welcome at Chick-fil-A."

The hate is so strong here, the need to "get it out" which is opposite of the Jersey Shore "get it in" philosophy, the dumb U.K. rag can't even blame the correct people they are trying to blame, bigot customers, they blame bigot employees.

The quotes, which are 99% bullshit but, perhaps, I agree, could have been made by a dumbass trying to be ironic, prove only the idiots at the U.K. rag can't write for shit, don't have editors, and are bigots against America's conservatives.

I had to go to PuffHo to verify the idiocy of the foul Brits, and while there are bullshit quotes about the sexual ergonomics of CFA, they don't let the losers across the pond escape incompetency charges.

These morons are too stupid to call conservative customers of CFA bigots even though that was clearly their intent.

If I'm a Chick-Fil-A franchisee, I'm pissed off right now. I didn't sign up and invest my own money and commit to spending six days every week of my life training pimply highschool kids to say "my pleasure" every four seconds like a fucking metronome for the privilege of watching CEO Cathy alienate a double-digit percentage of my customer base. Sure, I agreed not to work on Sundays, but that's a feature, not a bug.

Chick-Fil-A may be a privately held company but it makes no religious requirement of its franchisees (I checked). If I'm a franchisee, Mr. Cathy, we're partners. And if we're partners, it's implicit that you will not say anything publicly to fuck me over. One day of right-wing counter protests is not gonna make my year, you overly pious asshole. We're in business together, not elders in your tight-assed church, so next time, keep your fucking opinions to yourself.

Nice to know the Tea Party had nothing else to do but wait all day for a fast food sandwich. But some people have, you know, like JOBS.

garage has never heard of lunch hour and the practice of sending somebody out with orders while everybody else covers.

Andy R. said...

By the way, I should note how insanely frustrating it is to hear the various mayors mouthing off about not wanting Chick-fil-A in their cities. I've been personally boycotting Chick-fil-A for the last three years, in a mostly understated way,

If somebody goes out for some, Hatman will try to panhandle a sandwich off the paying people.

and now some idiot liberals have over-reached and turned it into a free speech issue.

As opposed to Hatman, who overreaches on everything and turns it into a free speech issue.

Or does he think trying to suppress everybody's opinions and actions by calling them anti-gay bigots is just good, clean fun?

Everyone has to be careful, selective, about the fights they take on. As someone highly sympathetic to gay rights, I think that this was a dumb cause to promote, whoever (gay or not) it was that initiated it. A restauant/food shop owner can't discriminate in serving or hiring people protected by law. However, they can say and advocate for any cause that they choose. And I can choose to spend my money wherever I want. That's the American Way.

I was hoping that gay people would not again be a political football, once again, in an election year. I guess it's not to be.

Poor Obama. He thought he was going to say some nice things about gay marriage to placate the wealthy gay people and gay advocates he needs to pay for his hemorrhaging campaign. It was the perfect time, and it would be long forgotten by September, when most people start paying any attention.

And then this goddamn Chick-fil-A guy has to make his comments, and these goddamn gay leftists have to make a big deal about it, and now it's caught fire and gay marriage -- which has never, ever won a vote, not ever, in any state -- is going to be simmering in the undernews for who knows how long.

I feel genuinely sorry for Obama at this point. The man who could do no wrong for so many months in 2008 can't catch a single break any more. It's sad. Hilarious, but sad all the same.

You can't talk about anything in a workplace any more, thanks to the sensitivity police.

During my career as a contractor, a couple of employers have told me that they prefer their contractors to work from home, precisely to avoid the hassle of the constant bitching about whether somebody said something "offensive."

My vote is to toss out of the sensitivity BS and return to the day when people could say what they wanted to say in the workplace. That's preferable to the deadly environment of silence and inability to connect with co-workers that the sensitivity racket has created.

Not to mention the dead awful shit of co-workers traipsing down to HR to rat each other out.

1) Gay Liberals try to shut down a business that has not done anything except have a CEO say something they don't like.

This is not why I boycott them and why any of the gay people I know have been boycotting them for years. Chick-fil-A used their profits to fund Exodus International which performs reparative therapy. That is just one of the many objectionable things they have been doing for years. Politically active gay people have been avoiding Chick-fil-A for years. The recent attention has been as much due to Cathy's outspoken and inflammatory comments, not because gays have suddenly gone to war against him.

Or does he think trying to suppress everybody's opinions and actions by calling them anti-gay bigots is just good, clean fun?

Responding to speech you don't like with critical speech is the definition of free speech. That you don't understand this is kind of shocking.

Also, I hear Chick-fil-A is good, so I think it's easier for me to boycott it since I've never been there and don't know what I'm missing out on.

There's a lesbian in my office who was screeching last week about how she and her friends were going to show Chick-fil-A. They were going to go make out with each other in line to show them! This won't stand.

Again, if you want to find real hatred of homosexuals, you need to go no further than your nearest mosque or cab stand. But why go there when you can hunt down an obscure quote from an obscure publication because Christians don't blow shit up.

@ Rick. Obviously you are not a franchisee or have ever been in business. You just had the biggest grossing day in the HISTORY of your store. You have new customers who probably never even heard of your store who will now be loyal customers. As I understand it, the food is very good. The franchisee is probably on the phone right now ordering double amounts of all inventory to accommodate the new surge in sales. Happy days for the business owner!!!

It is one thing for private entities to boycott a business and avoid the company because they have some bug up their butt (no pun intended). It is an entirely different, and un-Constitutional thing for some trumped up government lackey to try to use the power of the State to punish a business for the personal viewpoints, whether political or religious, of the owner of the business.

Free speech is not to be limited by the Government. This is the road to tyranny and fascism.

If YOU....Rick....don't want to patronize the business, that is your right. THAT is the free market at work.

It is NOT the right of the government to decide who gets to do business based on politically correct viewpoints.

1) Gay Liberals try to shut down a business that has not done anything except have a CEO say something they don't like.

This is not why I boycott them and why any of the gay people I know have been boycotting them for years. Chick-fil-A used their profits to fund Exodus International which performs reparative therapy. That is just one of the many objectionable things they have been doing for years.

And maybe some homosexuals want to lead a normal life, have a wife and kids (the natural way). Who are you to say they haven't got that right?

You guys are really quite a pack of storm troopers, aren't you?

Or does he think trying to suppress everybody's opinions and actions by calling them anti-gay bigots is just good, clean fun?

Responding to speech you don't like with critical speech is the definition of free speech. That you don't understand this is kind of shocking.

Stick it someplace.

You're trying to force people to do what you want through pejoratives, by attempting to shame or coerce them, not "critical speech" (whatever he means by that; critical speech, I would think, would mean taking someone's arguments apart and showing how they were fallacious, but that's not how Hatman operates).

Hatman never tries to dissuade by logic (he's living proof Lefties are all emotion). He's all about browbeating everybody with name-calling and threats of how his side is going to take over; no better than race merchants like Al Sharpton screaming, "Racism", anytime people don't want to do what he wants.

I hear the Hobby Lobby is owned by Christians, too. Maybe we all could go to Chic-fil-A for lunch, then head over to Hobby Lobby for some scrap-booking paraphernalia. Maybe make a scrap-book of our Chic-fil-A outings. Sort of make it a tradition.

And rum thing for shoutingthomas to show up now, when I spent the last two days being a racist. I could have used some moral support.

I've been kind of hobby-curious lately. So I could see myself being into it. Mostly I've been wanting to make small pieces of furniture because I'm not at all into what's passing for style these days, and I'm not at all into what passed for style in the 60s--but I am totally into what would pass for style if the two eras were blended together.

1. Mr Cathy is 91 years old. You'd think a guy that old could be cut a little slack for having old-fashioned opinions. It's not like we'll have to worry about what he thinks about anything for very many more years.

2. Others have noted that he didn't trash gay marriage, he just strongly supported traditional marriage. The latter implies the former, but there's still a big difference how you put it. Back in the '60s a lot of black Americans wore "Black Is Beautiful" T-shirts. That didn't bother pasty white me at all, whereas "White Is Ugly" T-shirts would have bothered me a lot. And I suspect Cathy worries at least as much about the tens of millions of heterosexuals getting divorced and the effect on their kids as about the hundreds of homosexuals getting married in the few states that allow it.

3. Ralph L's reference to "embryonic fascism" (9:27pm) gave me an unfortunate mental picture of fetuses giving each other Hitler salutes in the womb, even a whole Octomom's worth of synchronized swimming fetuses with their right arms outstretched.

I didn't believe this article based on the dozens of people I know who would never say such things, and yet who tend to be conservative and think in terms of religious freedom.

2008 suddenly came back to me like a ton of bricks when Ann said she was not believing it either - this was the modus operandi of the media - they'd go to a Sarah Palin rally and make up stuff that was supposedly "shouted" that was racist. Remember? It was awful.

Coincidentally, don't Muslim clerics and the owner of Chick Fil-A share roughly the same view on gay marriage?

I don't believe that Southern Baptists advocate stoning to death and maiming gays. The topic of actual marriage of homosexuals in Islam is probably not even close to being on the table as a discussion item.

Who can't forget the outpouring of support from freedom loving conservatives on the 1st Amendment back then?

Garage -- The issue cut across political lines. Most conservatives and libertarians were saying that there surely could be a compromise reached and other real estate could be found slightly uptown. The Brothers Judd -- quite conservative -- were adamant that the mosque would be no different than a YMCA and should obviously be built at the proposed site.

You either know as much, and are playing stupid, or you don't know it, and you truly, earnestly think of the world as your side good, the other side evil.

You are a smart fellow. So it's probably the former. But you shouldn't argue so shadily. It's bad form.

2008 suddenly came back to me like a ton of bricks when Ann said she was not believing it either - this was the modus operandi of the media - they'd go to a Sarah Palin rally and make up stuff that was supposedly "shouted" that was racist. Remember? It was awful.

Yeah. When Cincinnati had its first Tea Party rally, one TV news crew left early and said, on TV, they felt threatened. Somehow, every other TV station stayed as well as radio stations and newspaper reporters and felt no threats. And, there was not violence or anything close to it. I was there.

And all of this was foretold by Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm when Larry has to decide whether to support a boycott of a Middle Eastern restaurant in Los Angeles or eat its delicious good. Larry chooses correctly.

1. Mr Cathy is 91 years old. You'd think a guy that old could be cut a little slack for having old-fashioned opinions.

Not the way the Lefties work. Infidels must be expunged as an object lesson to the Collective.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Coincidentally, don't Muslim clerics and the owner of Chick Fil-A share roughly the same view on gay marriage?

I don't believe that Southern Baptists advocate stoning to death and maiming gays. The topic of actual marriage of homosexuals in Islam is probably not even close to being on the table as a discussion item.

Which raises an interesting conundrum...

Since the Lefties are scared purple of the Moslems and will happily suspend all their "separation of church and state" activities if it means keeping the Moslems quiet, what would they do if some of them wanted to do what the Dinner Jacket said had been done in Iran?

Cathy is likely a transliteration to a phonetic spelling of the Irish family name McCarthy or McCarty. You can find Catherine Cathy in genealogy.

His first name Truett is the mystery one. It is pronounced Trut and may mean truth.

The mountain area of northwestern Georgia is where Truett has given most heavily to colleges, such as Berry College, for scholarships that are also available to Chick-Fil-A employees kids. Nearby is Truett-McConnell College which is a Southern Baptist College.

Truett is BIG into saving boys from abandoned families by sponsoring foster families of Southern Baptist young married couples to raise them. He then pays for their college expenses at Berry.

Doing good is its own reward.

That is why the loyalty to the Cathys runs so deep to the extent that even Billy Graham toddered out to eat a Chick-fil-A today.

Sincere merciful Christians seem to recognize each other at a deep level, and the Cathy Family is as sincere and merciful as it gets.

Then maybe we can "compromise" and put chick Fil-A's only in areas where Chick Fil-A opponents want them?

Neither the location of a mosque nor the location of a restaurant is for the government to decide (reasonable zoning laws notwithstanding).

That's the part you are apparently missing. Cathy said what he said, and the gay lobby -- for lack of a better term -- gone into high gear. Fine. Great. Awesome. None of that is an issue and we can all sit here and spout about it.

The issue is government bullying. That's the story. That's what'ss got people up in arms. A number of government officials -- two in my own fair city -- have stupidly, dangerously suggested that a restaurant can't be somewhere because of the beliefs of its owners. That's disgusting, dangerous, and awful. And you should agree, on first principles.

All of us -- except, perhaps, Garage but even Andy -- can agree that the government can't ban churches or chicken restaurants because of the beliefs of the builders.

For Christ's sake. Step it up, Garage. Have a hoppy beer and get back to us. You are better than this.

Anyhoo, as an adjunct to the Chik-fil-A broohaha, I caught sight of an article about how militant polygamists are starting to clammor for THEIR equal rights to be married. MMM. Who woulda guessed that was coming. And lord knows whats waiting behind the polygamists. Liberal pogressives--never heard of Pandora.

Up thread I asked the Prof. her stance on public smoking bans. Her attitude mirrors my wifes, not surprisingly. I'm just too free market for main stream society today. Gonna have to ask her about that "We won, we're the majority" reasoning holds up to Demoracy vs. Republic thingy. But that's for another day.

Here is why the Democrats really stepped in it this time: they forgot that for every gay person in America, there are seven who dislike gay people and seven more who are fine with gay people but against gay marriage.

Which means the typical American -- even the typical American supporter of gay marriage -- has a hell of a lot more friends and relatives who are AGAINST gay marriage than he does friends and relatives who will benefit from gay marriage. Threaten them and you threaten us.

I agree with garage mahal. It would be totally wrong to allow a Chick-Fil-A to be located two blocks away from a place where 3,000 gays had been murdered just for being gay. I trust that if Chick-Fil-A ever opens a franchise in Teheran, they will not put it next door to any of the places where the Mullahs hang their gays from construction cranes. Fair enough?

Of course, he's just trying to change the subject by adducing false parallels. The fact is that putting a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero is as offensive as it would be if someone had proposed locating the U.S. Cavalry Museum (which is in Kansas) at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, two blocks from the massacre site. The U.S. Cavalry is a fine organization, that has done far more good than harm, but such a location for their museum would be rightly seen as moral atrocity, to be denounced by every decent person. Anyone who can't see a problem with a mosque so close to Ground Zero is a moral cretin.

It is absolutely not offensive to put a mosque near Ground Zero. That's very much -- exactly -- like saying we shouldn't have any Christian churches near Centennial Park in Atlanta because Eric Rudolph is a silly White Christian Nationalist. Do you believe that?

My thought too. Either the reporter made them up (because he thought surely some Cick-Fil-A customers think that way) or the workers themselves are lying flat out (or at the very least grossly exaggerating).

It's my experience that people on the left don't think other people should be allowed to think differently than them, which is why they call contrary opinions "hate speech" and try to have them penalized.

Eric Rudolph killed one or two people at Centennial Park (I don't know whether it's entirely fair to count the journalist who had a heart attack rushing to scene), and there's grave doubt as to whether he is a Christian at all - he claims to prefer Nietzsche to the Bible. So "exactly" seems to be exactly the wrong word for a comparison between him and Al Qaeda.

So what do you think about building a U.S. Cavalry Museum at Wounded Knee? Examples of incredibly tasteless juxtapositions could easily be multiplied. How about an Andrew Jackson monument two blocks from a Cherokee reservation? A firearms museum two blocks from Columbine High School? An Orthodox cathedral in Srebrenica, two blocks from the site where nominally Christian Serbs murdered 8,000 Muslims? I could go on . . . .

Mark Steyn had a good question for Rahm "Chick-fil-A doesn't represent 'Chicago values'" Emanuel. A restaurant run by Minister Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam reopened in Chicago a month ago. Do Farrakhan's views (about gays and, er, many other things) represent "Chicago values"? Is Salaam (the restaurant) welcome in Chicago? If so, how is it distinguished from Chick-fil-A -- I mean, in a way that makes Farrakhan better in tune with "Chicago values" than is Cathy?

Various answers to that last do suggest themselves, but none to the city's credit, or the mayor's.

Nobody talks like that anymore even down here in the hick south. Except maybe in movies about intolerant racist hate filled southerners. But not in real life. Not any more. Even down here. The quotes from the workers are invented.

That's what I was thinking. Reminds me of the NBC crew that sent "Muslim looking men" to a NASCAR event thinking they'd have a slam-dunk racism story for the oh-so-sophisticated people on the coasts. And they couldn't get one.

Some more thoughts about Truett: he started by opening a small grill that is famous for its hamburgers in Hapeville Georgia located on the railroad line into Atlanta from the south.

That was also the location of an institution called the Georgia Baptist Children's Home, which Truett started supporting with his profits.

A year later Ford opened an Assembly Plant across the street from the Dwarf House and it had to add three shifts a day to feed the employess at Fords. It was so much work that the employees and owners needed a day off to rest. So Truett began closing Sundays.

Then a small airport located a mile away started growing and growing until it became the busiest airport in the world.

Then Truett liscensed his boneless chicken fillet to a new restaurant in Jonesboro called Butch's Chicken House where it became a huge success. So when Malls opened around Metro Atlanta Chic-fil-A counters were opened in the food courts. They were soon selling half of all food sold in each mall.

Has God repayed his faithful servant Truett with interest for all the years of Truett lending to God each time he gave money to help orphans?

I don't know that answer . But I do know Truett, Dan and Bubba are not smart enough to have made themselves billionaires without God's blessing them.

I went to the only Chick-Fil-A in Wisconsin today. It's in the Regency Mall (southwest entrance) on 11 in Racine.

I first arrived at 11 and the line was not too long, two storefronts down the mall.

I was going to meet a friend from Madison, but a suicidal deer ran into her car in Waukesha and she had to have the car towed (one kid with a backache, she and the other kid were okay) so she didn't make it. The Little Guy and I left the mall and went on to the zoo as we had planned and went back to Chick-Fil-A to get something to bring home. We arrived back at the mall around 2:30 and the line was snaking through the mall. It took about an hour and twenty minutes to get through the line.

Most of the people I spoke with were there to support the First Amendment and to protest governmental bullyhood.

The employees were clearly very busy but they were all in a good mood, very friendly, and all seemed happy.

There was no hate anywhere in the line. Mostly people were tired of the bashing they take from the left.

Weevil -- I wouldn't build a mosque near Ground Zero. As I said suggest upthread, it seems like a reasonable compromise could be achieved and the mosque could have been moved a few blocks to a different parcel.

But, like Obama, let me be clear: any attempt by the government to prevent the building of the mosque is a violation of sacrosanct rights. Further, the only reason there needs to be a compromise is because there are way too many people like you who stupidly lump ordinary Muslims with the crazy, radical, extremism of Bin Laden and Qutb. You can look up Qutb.

Finally, I don't give much of a shit about Wounded Knee. I do note, however, that the British have an Embassy in Washington, DC, a city they burned to the ground in 1812. Does that keep you awake at night?

Well you aren't and haven't a clue. I think most CFA owners, management, and employees are dead asleep tonight and the numbers have blown them all away.

The Chick fil-A place I finally got dinner at at 8 PM tonight had sold 18,000 sandwiches / dinners by 4 PM and at that point were then sold out of the scrumptious chicken and only had some of the grilled left -- but had run out of lettuce and tomato. So I took home three naked grilled sandwiches and some tea and lemonade. I will go back and try the spicy chikin sandwich which I hear is great.

I ended up at that one because the Chick fil-A I ran by at lunch time was in a mall food court which had a line wrapping around the food court and was something like a 45 minute wait. The parking lot was full and people were streaming in continously.

The crowds were pleasant, civil and there were no shouting ranting or whatever.

There was a "counter demonstration" at one of the CFAs locally (Asheville -- the Sedona of the East). Approximately 8 people were holding signs ("Separation of Church and Hate" That was a crowd pleaser.) and some of them were the ones shouting and making some angry faces. It was claimed Mr. Cathy hurt some people's feeling when he said he supported traditional marriage.

Several people were interviewed on both sides (8 demonstrators and probably a couple thousand customers ...).

The hurt feelings spokeperson said no, the governemnt should not restrict businesses from doing business based on speech, but must educate the businesses. (?)

The point made by customers was that Dan Cathy (not Truett, the father) was well within his rights to have opinions and to express them and that is why they were there, and that businesses are businesses. Those customers included a black woman and a guy with long hair and a tie-dyed shirt.

So now I'm "stupidly lump[ing] ordinary Muslims with the crazy, radical, extremism of Bin Laden and Qutb"? That is so utterly false that only a liar or a fool could have written it. Which are you, Seven Machos?

The whole point of my comparisons was (I thought) obvious. I certainly do not think that all members of the U.S. Cavalry are responsible for Wounded Knee, or all Orthodox Christian for Srebrenica, or all Muslims for 9-11. However, multiple members of those organizations did commit mass murders at those locations (unlike not-very-Christian loner Eric Rudolph with his total of 1-2 victims), and therefore other members of those organizations should have the minimal decency not to build monuments to themselves in the immediate vicinity of the massacre sites.

Nor have I suggested that the mayor of N.Y. had any legal right to ban the Ground Zero mosque. I simply think that the plan to build it was so shamefully and contemptibly wrong that the organizers should have been shamed into abandoning their plans by the opposition of all decent people.

Weevil -- You realize that you are exactly the equivalent of the Mayor Rahm and boycotters of Chick-Fil-A, right?

Ordinary, peaceful, law-abiding Muslims had, have, and will have nothing whatsoever to do with Bin Laden or September 11. It is beyond idiotic to suggest that they would be doing something offensive by trying to practice their religion.

I agree with you that to you it looks tacky and seems offensive. But this is only because you don't understand Islam, or extremist Islam, or how a politics of inclusion of moderates far outweighs silly personal offense.

The crowds at the King Tut exhibitions I went to were all much better managed.

I was dogging their sandwiches without knowing anything about them. The bread. How good can it be? My bread is always better than their bread. Fact. Except once at a Submarine place. I had a half sandwich and the whole time I was munching it I was going, "oh man, this is excellent bread. I marveled. Ate the whole thing. The sandwich was excellent because of the excellent bread.

Then I got the gas like you would not believe. Parrrrf parrrrf parrrrf all over the place. Like big ol hot air balloon farts. I almost blew out the car windows so I rolled them down. Then got home and waited until nobody was around parrrf and hoping nobody would parrrrrf see me. Luckily I got home parrrrrf and inside parrrrrf without anybody seeing or smelling me parrrrrf and the phone rang and someone wanted to parrrrrf go out and I'm all no parrrrrf way, I gotta stay parrrrrf home because I am totally parrrrrf indecent.

I don't know what Subway puts in their bread. It tastes fantastic.

But I noticed in one of photos the Chick Fil A bread looks like a Kaiser roll. My eye goes to the bread.

Most Kaiser rolls are fake. There is a cookie cutter type thing that presses or cuts the swirls into dough but that is not the right way. YouTube videos are mostly unhelpful. Girls show the wrong way to do it. Then, finally, way along the Kaiser roll demonstration lineup or wrong videos there is one of an old woman forming them out of tough flattened dough wads. Flattened like a pizza and folded like a fish en papillote or al cartoccio, she folds an edge around a little finger and holds it there, then another edge, and another edge, edge upon edge until with six folds she reaches the end and tucks it into the fold she kept open with her little finger. It appears to be a brutal way to handle dough. I never handle dough that roughly myself or use dough that stiff, but there you go, the one video I saw that seemed authentic. Kaiser rolls. Chick Fil A appears to use real Kaiser rolls. There's one near my home. I should maybe walk down there with my camera to see wut up.

I would be "exactly the equivalent" of Mayor Rahm if I had argued that law-abiding Muslims should be legally forbidden to build a mosque anywhere in New York City. That differs from what I actually wrote in two crucial ways.

Of course, someone who patronizingly assumes that I've never heard of Sayid Qutb is probably not worth arguing with. Seven Machos certainly doesn't seem to be interested in addressing the arguments I actually made.

Poor stupid Seven Machos probably thinks I'm dreaming of legal ways to stop him from lying about me. Nope. Go ahead and lie, loser. Anyone who bothers to read my comments and yours can easily draw their own conclusions, and if they can't be bothered to do that, who cares what they think?

The recent attention has been as much due to Cathy's outspoken and inflammatory comments, not because gays have suddenly gone to war against him.

In a super christian magazine that nobody reads (or at least, none of the people complaining). The guy didn't go after you, he was minding his own business. I think that reparative therapy is stupid, but if people want to try it, that's up to them, isnt' it?

Qutb (courtesy of wiki) father of al-QaedaQutb noted with disapproval the sexuality of American women:

the American girl is well acquainted with her body's seductive capacity. She knows it lies in the face, and in expressive eyes, and thirsty lips. She knows seductiveness lies in the round breasts, the full buttocks, and in the shapely thighs, sleek legs—and she shows all this and does not hide it.[4]

He also commented on the American taste in arts:

The American is primitive in his artistic taste, both in what he enjoys as art and in his own artistic works. “Jazz” music is his music of choice. This is that music that the Negroes invented to satisfy their primitive inclinations, as well as their desire to be noisy on the one hand and to excite bestial tendencies on the other. The American’s intoxication in “jazz” music does not reach its full completion until the music is accompanied by singing that is just as coarse and obnoxious as the music itself. Meanwhile, the noise of the instruments and the voices mounts, and it rings in the ears to an unbearable degree… The agitation of the multitude[2] increases, and the voices of approval mount, and their palms ring out in vehement, continuous applause that all but deafens the ears.[22]

The homosexual temper tantrum will be over in about a week. They will end up hurting their cause again because they just don't know when to shut the fuck up. What's more disturbing is the clear violation of the 1st amendment by Don Emmanuel and his little alderman cohort who are both acting in official government capacity to suppress the free speech rights of a private citizen and a private corporation and it's franchisees by declaring that they would deny business permits to them to operate in their cities. That is the more insidious story that isn't being represented properly. This is exactly why the 1st amendment exists and I hope they are sued into oblivion.

The best part about Qutb is that he formed his views of Americans largely after spending a semester at a university in Colorado. I believe it was the University of Northern Colorado. As I remember reading him, he specifically remembers attending a dance where the American college women were terribly salacious in their dress and attitudes.

Now, you have to imagine it: it's the 50s or 60s, maybe, not today when our junior high schoolers are dry humping each other to Britney Spears songs. It's an innocent time. This nerdy foreign exchange student goes to a dance and sees these women that, to his eyes, are scantily clad because they are showing ankle. He is seduced by their beauty. Those shoulders! But he is also repelled at the whole scene.

It affected him terribly. He went back to the Middle East and wrote a bunch of radical, revolutionary shit, and I believe died in prison.

Anyway, sorry for veering so far off topic. But, clearly, what should be illegal is foreign exchange students.

I like CFA and have eaten there for as long as they've been in San Diego, but today was impossible to go anywhere near them and I suspect for a while it will be that way. Their chicken salad sandwich is very good.

Also, I'm sure you haven't consulted any Internet sources, Weevil. But in the unlikely event that you have, I'm glad I could -- in my gentle way -- encourage you to learn about the fascinating world you live in.

I'm glad to see that Seven Machos can't believe that I might have heard of Qutb before, or that I might have already known that he was hanged without having to do any research. It just confirms his general assholistic attitude. In fact, I now know exactly as much about Qutb as I did before today, which is apparently at least a little bit more than SM did. I learned about Qutb from Mark Steyn, who likes to quote the stuff about the horrors of '40s sock-hops and Negro music.

Attacking Christianity seems normal to some secular people. These people would never say anything anti-Semitic. If Chick-Fil-A was run by Jews, they wouldn't dare mention it. They would recognize the danger that it's bigotry. But anti-Christian bigotry is somehow acceptable.

And that headline is a twofer. Because Chick-Fil-A is not a religous restaurant. It's not political. It's just really good food. Fast, cheap, and delicious. That's pretty much it.

So the Atlantic is not describing an actual Chick-Fil-A. It's a demonized version of a restaurant. And you are singling out the Christians who run the business for disdain.

When you say things like "Junk Food For Jesus," it's clear to anybody who has eaten at a Chick-Fil-A that you have no idea what you're talking about.

I don't have patience for your ignorance, you damn stupid New York press. Apparently, you've never left your city and have no idea what the rest of the world is like. Your narrow mind and your lack of knowledge is eye-opening to the rest of us. We have knowledge.

You know when people lose their faith in journalism? When they have direct knowledge of what is reported. That's when the light bulb goes off and you realize that reporters are shallow, glib, superficial and prejudiced.

Now the Atlantic is going to wonder why it's losing readers. Because you're ignorant! And your ignorance is obvious to anybody who actually has knowledge!

I wonder if the DNC will embrace yet another dysfunctional behavior in their platform. They should have stopped with their final solution: normalization of elective abortion; but, they seem bent on accelerating their drive to extinction. Without access to indoctrinate other people's children and with an increasing rejection of (false) promises of instant gratification without consequence, their days will surely be numbered.

If the stream of legal, but especially illegal, immigrants is ever stemmed, then Americans will finally notice that the evolutionary dysfunction they have been sold is unsustainable, both in theory and practice. They already notice that both contributory and non-contributory entitlements are rationed, and with immigration stemmed, cheap goods from China curtailed, and increasing concern for a progressive debt, people are questioning not only their decision to exchange liberty for submission with benefits, but also the decreasing viability of their society.

This is indeed interesting, but not unique, times. Western civilization, and America specifically, is not the first to grapple with the consequences of a progressive decadence which threatens to undermine its future.

It's unfortunate that The Constitution does not address evolutionary fitness. The founders probably had more immediate concerns. They understood that the prerequisite for liberty is individuals capable of self-moderating behavior. They probably assumed that before evolutionary dysfunction ever became noticeable, that we would have long before lost our liberty. This would have happened, except the feedback loop was subverted for political, economic, and social reasons.

They left the decision to normalize, tolerate, and reject behaviors to the people who inherited their creation. They knew that some portion of the population would dream of instant gratification and that their experiment may not last. In fact, they were right, and we were warned about these corrosive dreams.

Oh, well. It remains to be seen if history will repeat in endless loops or if people have learned to moderate their baser appetites.

I don't know that answer . But I do know Truett, Dan and Bubba are not smart enough to have made themselves billionaires without God's blessing them.

The Cathys may be good people, who knows, except for them and their God. But from my understanding of Christ, He did not seem to care if one was a rich man or a pauper, and did not seem like the kind of fellow who handed out cash rewards to people for being publicly pious... in fact, He tended to disfavor those who made an expensive show of their piety. The Cathys have made an enormous amount of money in this world, and that money certainly came from their business decisions, not from God. Their goodness and salvation has nothing to do with their worldly success, and will count for nothing when God considers their lives and their salvation.

It is despicable for those who wield the power of the State to use, or threaten to use, that power to harm legitimate businesses, and it is imperative for anyone who cares about liberty to defend the natural rights of legitimate businesspeople to exercise freedom of expression and the free exercise of their trade. You do not need to support the content of the businesspeople's speech in order to defend their right to speak freely and to conduct their lawful business without the illegal impediment of the State.

The business of America is business, as the saying goes, and though I doubt the wisdom of attaching a social or religious position to an unrelated trade (chicken sandwiches), it is the duty of anyone who values liberty to support their right to do as they see fit... even if you do not support the content of their lawful speech.

I am a homosexual. I believe that God has made me as I am, and that God does not make mistakes. I do not believe the State has any right to regulate marriage of any sort, whether it is "traditional" marriage, as defined by certain religious institutions, or "gay" marriage, as defined by other religious institutions, or by secular parties who wish to enter into these sorts of social/religious arrangements. The Cathys are free to believe what they wish to believe, and I am free to reject their ideas. But I do not believe that the State has any right to make a judgment upon the merit of any of these various beliefs, and I do not believe that the State has any right to pass judgement upon the right of anyone to freely express their beliefs regarding the subject of marriage.

In the end, the most important issues arising from this silly contretemps are: Americans have the right to express their beliefs as they choose (whether wise or unwise). Legitimate businesses have the right to operate without the hindrance of State power. Americans have the right to either promote or boycott people or business entities as they see fit.

Had there been a local francise, I would have eaten at a Chik-Fil-A today, to symbolically demonstrate my support for the Cathys and their right to express their wrong-headed opinions without repercussions from the State... but, most importantly, because they make a good fast-food meal. In the end, beyond politics and philosophy, this is what makes a business sink or swim.

And, for the record, I have eaten Chik-Fil-A once, at a Fredericksburg, VA francise, and it was (as fast food goes) tender and delicious, as were the wholesome young American boys who made it and served it to me.

Why, you are just a loveable libertarian who happens to spew moral invective.

Contrary to the beliefs of many on both the left and right, libertarianism is not synonymous with amorality and lack of decency.

Building a Muslim resource center and mosque named after a famous Muslim conquest, on the site of a building damaged in the 9/11 attacks, was in extremely poor taste. Doubly so given Imam Rauf's history of moral equivocation regarding the 9/11 attacks. Obviously people have the right to offend whomever they want on their own property -- but we have the right to call them assholes for doing it. :)

As for the stories about customers saying things about queers because they think that's welcome there, I can believe part of it.

I believe there are some who say things like that because the public is huge and there is a portion of it who are assholes. They say assholey things.What we can't know is they say it there because they think it's welcome there. Maybe it's the kind of thing they say to anyone who will listen, because they are assholes. Maybe they think what they have to say is just so full of truth that everyone welcomes it.

We also can't know if the pro-gay activists come in and say other assholey things, like the guy on the video Ace has posted.

(my son did volunteer work for a well known, very liberal organization. On his first day, my son, tan from months of outdoor swimming practice, was told by one of the people he was helping that he was "just so sick of wetbacks like you". Did this guy say it because he thought that kind of thing was welcome there, in that liberal organization? I doubt it! He said it because that's the kind of assholey thing he says!)

Personally, I think anyone who labels someone "homophobic" should be arrested for practicing medicine (psychiatry) without a license.

And if the shouting of "homophobic" by bullies doesn't stop, the people who kindly shelved the term "pervert" in order to be polite may decide that bullies and their consenting-by-silence allies don't deserve to be treated as if they are polite company and that the accurate descriptive term of homosexual behaviors and politics should be revived.

On my own blog I contrasted Chikaquiddick with "The Scarlet Letter." Short version: the Puritans bought Hester's needlework for occasions dear to them except for the one directly associated with her crime (weddings). The SSM fanatics want Chik-fil-A's commerce to end completely. Where is the real tolerance?

Where are all the similar spontaneous eruptions of public displeasure at, you know, the really serious shit that is going on: purposeless, groundless, seemingly endless wars abroad, destroying lives and draining our public coffers; the institution of torture as official policy; the institution of unilateral execution of anyone in the world, including American citizens, at the President's say-so and with no due process or recourse to a court of law as official policy; the institution of spying by the American government on all our electronic communications as standard official policy; environmental despoilation; vanishing resources; vanishing jobs; a shrinking middle class; the ongoing thieving and fraud by the great financial institutions, which are destabilizing the global economy and threatens economic collapse; the use of cops as bully-boys to beat up, mace, electrocute and harass those who protest the interests of the financial elites; and so on and so on.

I disagree with the Chic-Fil-A head's view, but I support his right to say what he wants to say, however stupid his choice to do so may be, and I don't think municipal governments should ban his stores (or franchises) from opening merely because he's a jerk...heck, the heads of most companies are probably jerks! But it is dismaying that it is something like this that momentarily arouses Americans from their sleep of unreason, while graver matters go unremarked, (or blamed on "illegals").

I would wager that in spite of what the article said, any gay employees of Chick-Fil-A had no idea what the owner's stand on gay marriage was until a couple of weeks ago. And I'd be curious to hear how many more "homophobic" things he has heard from the employees at Chick-Fil-A compared to other places that person has worked.

The Department of Children & Families, by law must engage with both a mother and father to stabilize the family in my state. A mother and father can not have their parental rights termination without due process. Even teenager parents have this right. A mother and father are legally obligated to their children married or not.

We all know the negative effects of father absence, social and economic.

But it is 'hate' to have a concept like marriage, that can promote a mother and father together?

Whatever, we're so screwed.

Really being called a homophbic bigot is getting old, and I suffer for my thoughts oh well, I'm glad I could speak.

The problem [for the elite] with National Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day is that it constitutes an act of open defiance by manifesting all too publicly the contempt that a fairly large segment of the population has for shibboleths of political correctness.

Where are all the similar spontaneous eruptions of public displeasure at, you know, the really serious shit that is going on: purposeless, groundless, seemingly endless wars abroad, destroying lives and draining our public coffers; the institution of torture as official policy; the institution of unilateral execution of anyone in the world, including American citizens, at the President's say-so and with no due process or recourse to a court of law as official policy; the institution of spying by the American government on all our electronic communications as standard official policy; environmental despoilation; vanishing resources; vanishing jobs; a shrinking middle class; the ongoing thieving and fraud by the great financial institutions, which are destabilizing the global economy and threatens economic collapse; the use of cops as bully-boys to beat up, mace, electrocute and harass those who protest the interests of the financial elites; and so on and so on.

Are you admitting all of those huge protest marches about Bush WEREN'T spontaneous? Color me stunned.

I'm not exactly sure why the media thinks it's a good idea to be so focused in New York City. I suppose there must be some historical reason. But it makes for in-breeding and ignorant writers, yes?

You forgot boring. The literary masturbation of NY-based writers (both press and ADMITTED fictional writers) is one of the most tedious slogs in history.

That's the part you are apparently missing. Cathy said what he said, and the gay lobby -- for lack of a better term -- gone into high gear. Fine. Great. Awesome. None of that is an issue and we can all sit here and spout about it.

Except he DIDN'T say what they said he did. He didn't discuss gay marriage AT ALL. The interviewer said he asked him about his support of traditional marriage and he answered "guilty as charged". He was not asked about gay marriage. Apparently, one cannot openly support traditional marriage without hating gay marriage.

If true --- then I hate gay marriage. So be it. I thought I was ambivalent at best about it...but if its activists insist that I hate it, then oh well.

This is not why I boycott them and why any of the gay people I know have been boycotting them for years. Chick-fil-A used their profits to fund Exodus International which performs reparative therapy. That is just one of the many objectionable things they have been doing for years. Politically active gay people have been avoiding Chick-fil-A for years. The recent attention has been as much due to Cathy's outspoken and inflammatory comments, not because gays have suddenly gone to war against him.

You didn't read the interview, so you don't know what the hell you're talking about. "reparative therapy", to me, is no worse than "gender reassignment therapy". Same shit, different toilet.

Nice to know the Tea Party had nothing else to do but wait all day for a fast food sandwich. But some people have, you know, like JOBS.

I was off to pick up my nieces and I got in and out within 40 minutes. Packed as they were...they were also damned quick getting people serviced.

Good call. That market's growing by two million people a year. :)

Welcome to the Obama Depression. It'd be Great if our government didn't play with employment numbers so blatantly.

Of course, if I don't like it I won't go again.

Not LIKING a CFA sandwich? Is that even possible? Only fast food worth eating.

This is not why I boycott them and why any of the gay people I know have been boycotting them for years.

I don't doubt this. I think you gravitate to gay friends who are as much assholes as you are - all frothing bigots like yourself and none good representatives for your causes.

What you call anti-gay bigotry is actually anti-asshole dismissal. If you ever were to even consider that as a possibility, you and your friends would change tactics, rise above being assholes, and put your sorry asses on the line protesting in front of mosques instead being so self-satisfied about your utterly safe boycott of CFA.

Politically active gay people have been avoiding Chick-fil-A for years.

See above.

The recent attention has been as much due to Cathy's outspoken and inflammatory comments, not because gays have suddenly gone to war against him.

But you just said that politically active gays, and all your gay friend, have been at it for years.

You actually consider expressing verbal support for tradition families inflammatory speech because you would see traditional families subsumed into whatever definition you and your other sophomoric friends want to assign to it to benefit a small segment of the population and lifestyle you happen to advocate. In your mind these 'inflammatory' comments must be specifically directed at gays - they aren't and you'd know that if you were informed - because you CHOOSE to be offended by them.

'You actually consider expressing verbal support for traditional families inflammatory speech because you would see traditional families subsumed into whatever definition you and your other sophomoric friends want to assign to it. Just to benefit a small segment of the population and lifestyle you happen to advocate. In your mind these 'inflammatory' comments must be specifically directed at gays - they aren't and you'd know that if you were informed - because you CHOOSE to be offended by them.'

Why not? Unless you have facts that you're keeping to yourself, you're just making a faith-based statement that summarizes what you WANT to believe.

Or maybe you meant to say you're skeptical of "the stories of customers saying homophobic things." Wouldn't that be a more sensible position to take when you don't have sufficient evidence to reach an informed conclusion?

Seven Machos said... And then this goddamn Chick-fil-A guy has to make his comments, and these goddamn gay leftists have to make a big deal about it, and now it's caught fire and gay marriage -- which has never, ever won a vote, not ever, in any state -- is going to be simmering in the undernews for who knows how long

garage mahal said... This whole thing reminds me a lot of the mosque dustup in Manhattan from a few years ago. Who can't forget the outpouring of support from freedom loving conservatives on the 1st Amendment back then?

But what about ______?

Note the utter inability to criticize any Democrat in any manner or form in any circumstance.

Andy: The recent attention has been as much due to Cathy's outspoken and inflammatory comments

Idiot. Please point to the "inflamatory" comments:

It began as a college scholarship and expanded to a foster care program, an international ministry, and a conference and retreat center modeled after the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove.

"That morphed into a marriage program in conjunction with national marriage ministries," Cathy added.

Some have opposed the company's support of the traditional family. "Well, guilty as charged," said Cathy when asked about the company's position.

"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.

"We operate as a family business ... our restaurants are typically led by families; some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that," Cathy emphasized.

And here's the link to the rest of the article, so you can't whine about context: